lip swatches

Lancome Chris & Tell Lipstick

Have you managed to get your hands on this year’s coveted Lancome designer lipstick? First it was Proenza Pink, and this year, it’s Chris & Tell. Chris & Tell was designed by Chris Benz and comes on the luxuriating L’Absolu Rouge formula. It’s sold out on Lancome’s website, so those hoping to snag one should call their nearest Saks store to see if they can track one down!

Chris & Tell is an ultra creamy, brightened coral-pink. It’s bright and richly pigmented. The color is so vibrantly coral, it instantly reminded me of summer (not so much spring). The color grabs onto lips and wears well for a solid four hours. The creaminess of the lipstick is just enough to give lips a glossy sheen and comfortable feeling without being too creamy and causing slippage.

The Spring Season: Korres #22 Rose Guava Lipstick

Korres #22 Rose Guava Lipstick ($22.00 for 0.06 oz.) is a beautiful shade of medium pink with golden shimmer. It reminded me of a seriously muted version of Guerlain Giulette Lipstick. It could also double as MAC Nympette Lipglass in lipstick form. It has a beautiful muted medium pink base with golden shimmer and a light sheen. Korres’ Guava Lipstick is incredibly moisturizing and glides onto lips easily. Guava Lipstick wears well (four hours for me) and looks soft and smooth without being creamy–so they don’t slip on the lips.

Is this the right sheer lipstick for you? Would you wear it?

The Spring Season is a series of posts featuring my favorite soft beige, coral, and pink lipsticks and lipglosses — all perfect for the first blossom of spring — that runs through March 2010.

The Spring Season: Maybelline Warm Me Up Lipstick

Maybelline Warm Me Up (#235) Lipstick ($7.49) is a beautiful shade of slightly milky-medium pink with a yellow undertone. It has just a smidgen of shimmer and a very creamy look. It’s smooth, easy to apply, and wears well for a solid three to four hours. I love that it’s a full color coverage shade, too–it gives me a quick and easy, everyday pink that I can wear alone or with smoked out eyes. Maybelline’s ColorSensational Lipstick line is really impressive–the shades I’ve tried so far have been wearable, creamy, and pack good color pigmentation to boot. If you’ve been hoping for a more affordable yellow-based pink, this might be it!

Is this the perfect pink lipstick for you? Would you wear it?

The Spring Season is a series of posts featuring my favorite soft beige, coral, and pink lipsticks and lipglosses — all perfect for the first blossom of spring — that runs through March 2010.

The Spring Season: MAC Fleshpot Lipstick

MAC Fleshpot Lipstick ($14.00) is an ultra fleshy nude satin-finish shade. It’s incredibly creamy and quite pigmented–but it’s a tough nude to pull off, just because it’s so pale, so fleshy. For some, Fleshpot just gives you “concealer lips” rather than the sexpot nude lip look they’re hunting for. This is a shade I’d recommend trying on before you buy, if at all possible. It is a really great shade to layer under an intense lipgloss for a more muted versio of it, and it can also work well to mute your natural lip color, too. The finish and pay off is excellent, though!

Is this the perfect nude for you? Would you wear it?

The Spring Season is a series of posts featuring my favorite soft beige, coral, and pink lipsticks and lipglosses — all perfect for the first blossom of spring — that runs through March 2010.

YSL for Spring 2010: Opera Rose Rouge Volupte

YSL Opera Rose (#29) Rouge Volupte Lipstick($34.00) is a creamy, medium pink with neutral undertones. It’s hard to find a pink that it’s blue-based, and then to find one that is more neutral or yellow in undertone is a real pleasure for me–just because it’s easier for me to wear less blue-based pinks with my skin tone.

Opera Rose is a new-for-spring shade, and it’s definitely apropos for the season. It’s not too pale or light–it’s a solid medium pink. It’s not bright either. Like the rest of the Rouge Volupte line, Opera Rose applies smoothly and evenly to lips with full color coverage and a glossy sheen. These are some of the creamiest lipsticks I’ve ever tried! They just glide on and feel amazing.

The only downside is that because of their creaminess, it tends to slip around a bit and I typically only get two or three hours of wear with them. They remind me a bit of the texture and creaminess of MAC Slimshines, but these pack on way more color (all the shades I’ve tried have been totally opaque). The packaging of the Rouge Voluptes is lovely–the YSL signature gold metal casing, but it has this nice detail around the center of the lipstick that has the YSL logo.

Pricing-wise, it’s in-line with YSL’s products and not out of the normal range for similar brands either! Not your most affordable lipstick, but it can be a nice indulgence without totally breaking the bank. I really only wish that these would last longer on lips — it’s easy to run through a tube of this if you reapply throughout the day and wear it a few days a week!

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Product: 27/30

Value: 8/10

Ease of Use: 4/5

Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: If you love ultra creamy lipsticks, you may want to give YSL’s Rouge Volupte a try.

The Spring Season: Benefit I’m With the Band Lipgloss

Benefit I’m With the Band Lip Gloss ($19.00) is an ultra shimmery golden peach pink mauve. No, seriously. This is one of those glosses that’s going to look just a little different from person to person, depending on your natural lip color. It has a serious gold shimmer to it, though, no matter how you slice it. On me, it’s a sheer pink color base with glimmering gold shimmer. It’s very pretty when worn alone or on top of a lipstick. Benefit glosses are on the thinner side, but you can get a surprisingly amount of shimmer with just a lil’ bit of gloss in this one. Their gloss is non-sticky, almost lightly creamy, and I couldn’t detect any real scent. Definitely one of my favorite Benefit lipglosses!

Is this the perfect gloss for you? Would you wear it?

The Spring Season is a series of posts featuring my favorite soft beige, coral, and pink lipsticks and lipglosses — all perfect for the first blossom of spring — that runs through March 2010.